Hishammuddin: Reopening the Malaysian border on March 1 still under discussion

Malaysia – According to Defense Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, the proposed reopening of Malaysia’s borders would be discussed by the Cabinet or the Special Committee to Address Covid-19 before a decision is made.

Several departments would be involved in the subject of complete reopening of the country’s borders before a final decision can be taken, he added.

After viewing a Leonardo AW139 helicopter introduction program at the Butterworth Air Base, he told reporters, “We need to debate this in Cabinet since it includes other ministries, like Health and Finance, not only my ministry.”

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, head of the National Recovery Council (NRC), said on Tuesday that the country’s borders might reopen as early as March 1 based on a proposal.

He said the suggestion will be reviewed in the Covid-19 Quartet Ministerial Meeting in the near future.

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According to him, this decision cannot be taken at the Covid-19 Quartet Ministerial Meeting or even at the NRC level since it must be brought to Cabinet or the Prime Minister’s Special Committee to Address Covid-19.

The NRC urged on Tuesday that the country’s borders be fully reopened as soon as March 1 without the need for obligatory quarantine.

According to reports, Muhyiddin indicated that travelers will simply need to take a Covid-19 test before departing and arriving in Malaysia, as suggested by the Ministry of Health.

Several parliamentarians have asserted that there was no arrangement or contact between the NRC and the Covid-19 Quartet Ministerial Meeting on the full reopening of the country’s borders as a result of his proclamation.

In response to a question regarding this, Hishammuddin dismissed the charges as untrue, stating that it is common for legislators to put one group against another.

Because members of both the NRC and the Covid-19 Quartet Ministerial Meeting are the same persons, he noted, “it is not correct to suggest there was no communication between them.”

He emphasized that neither the NRC nor the Covid-19 Quartet Ministerial Meeting has the authority to make a definitive judgment on the issue.